Son accepts Purple Heart 95 years after dad's WWI injuries

CITY OF NEWBURGH — William B. Tiebout Jr. finally got the Purple Heart medal he earned almost a century ago fighting with the U.S. Army on a field in Belgium in World War I.

BY MICHAEL RANDALL

CITY OF NEWBURGH — William B. Tiebout Jr. finally got the Purple Heart medal he earned almost a century ago fighting with the U.S. Army on a field in Belgium in World War I.

Tiebout, a Brooklyn native, died in 1977, but the medal was presented to surviving family members in a ceremony Friday at Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh.

The moment came to pass because his son, Ernie, remembered something his dad used to say whenever confronted with a problem or obstacle.

Ernie Tiebout said he was looking through his dad's war records a few years ago, and noticed that although his father had suffered shrapnel wounds in the legs, he never received a Purple Heart.

"Something's missing here," he thought.

Ernie Tiebout told those assembled at Washington's Headquarters it was at that point he recalled his father's frequent words: "What are you gonna do about it?"

Since it was instituted in 1932, the Purple Heart has been presented to soldiers wounded or killed in battle, including many World War I veterans.

The son decided he would try to get his father the medal he'd earned. He first turned in paperwork to the office of his congressional representative at the time, Nan Hayworth, but her term apparently ended before her staff got around to Tiebout's case.

But the file was passed along and discovered by the staff of Hayworth's successor, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. His district representative, Oscar Dunham, led the effort to establish Tiebout's case, and that led to Friday's ceremony at Washington's Headquarters, where George Washington himself established the medal's forerunner, known as the Badge of Military Merit.

"I'd like to think (William Tiebout) is resting a little more peacefully today, knowing that it's 95 years later but we finally caught up to him," Maloney said.

Tiebout actually was wounded twice. He initially suffered shrapnel wounds in both legs on June 28, 1918. Then his right leg was wounded further when a German aircraft strafed the field hospital where he was being treated for the original wounds. But he recovered and went on to serve as an aircraft inspector for the Navy during World War II.

Ernie Tiebout said the family plans to share the Purple Heart with his dad next month in a more private moment — during a visit to his grave in Coburn Cemetery in Sherman, Conn. His dad "never talked much about" his war experiences, but Ernie Tiebout believes he would be proud of his Purple Heart.